KNOT HEART - Almeida Theatre

It has neutrality that allows us to go to many placesand it’s sense of space almost mirrors that of thewriting.By the third day we are well into working around thetable. Michael has already laid down the rules of thisway of working in his comment on the first day: ‘Noquestion is too stupid.’ So we go through the scriptscene by scene breaking down lines, relationships,deciding on histories of characters, even discussingthe practicalities of drug taking. This week has alsohad us immersed in the world of addiction and drugtaking and the amount of research that both Michaeland David had done on the subject was vast. We nowhad a research table that was filled with photocopies,books, newspaper articles and the like and we hadbecome like sponges soaking it up.I must say that by Friday it had become anoverwhelming feeling. We had seen and read sometraumatic stories, we had unpicked some of thedarker things within this play, there had been tears,laughter, secrets shared and by the end of the week ithad become very apparent just how open andtrusting of one another we would need to be in orderto honour this play.Next week begins to get this story on its feet and Ilook forward to seeing just how the cast take thathead knowledge, research and life, stick it in theirback pockets and free themselves up to becomethese characters.Week 2It’s a Monday morning and I’m watching actress LisaDillon in a rather perfunctory manner roll up a pieceof foil as she goes through the motions of replicatingchasing the dragon (smoking heroin off tin foil).Meanwhile Margot Leicester sits next to her, almostoblivious, fiddling with the binding on her script andI can’t help but smile at what is considered normalbehaviour in a rehearsal room.The rather imposing table has now gone from thecentre of the room and has been replaced withcoloured tape marking out the stage along the floor.As this play is set on a revolve, there are threedominating sections that the scenes will occur in andthese sections are now referred to as green, orangeand yellow. The first scene is in green and involvescharacters Lucy and Barbara sitting out in the gardenas Lucy has something to tell her mother. Much ofthe challenges faced in this scene were simply howand where lighters were going to go and whethercigarettes were to be stubbed out on the floor or notand what exactly happens to opium as it is meltedKieran Bew in rehearsalPhoto: Matt HumphreyEverything else is backgroundnow. Tap and modern andballet, horse-riding and learningto play the flute.LucyScene 3In the Rehearsal RoomResource Pack: The Knot of the Heart 24